Cheese Blog

I decided not to say much about it until I had something as firm as a wheel of Vella Dry Jack to share with you, but now things are very firm. I'm very excited to share that I am writing a book about cheese: "It’s Not You, It’s Brie: Behind the Wheel, A Guide to Unwrapping American Cheese & Culture."

The season of the goat is among us. Unlike cows who can generally be milked anytime throughout the year within their 300-day lactation cycle, goats are on stricter breeding and milking cycles that are more tied to the time of year. Spring is goat season.

Last February I headed to my first cheese conference, learned the official handshake and secret word that let me through the door (I can't tell you what it was but can disclose that the secret word started with an L and ended with tose), and learned more about cheese and met more in the community than I ever thought I could in two days. Put on by Delice de la Vallée cheesmaker Seana Davis, the Sonoma Cheese Conference holds a special place in my heart.

It has been a while since I wrote about the glories of the "It's Not You, it's Brie" cheese club, so I thought I'd toss the little fella a (milk) bone and share the latest selection write ups. Every month I put together a pick-up only cheese club in conjunction with Solano Cellars wine shop and wine bar, composed of three of my favorite cheeses that month, plus an accompaniment to pair with one of the selections.

The first time I tasted Salvatore Bklyn ricotta, I realized that I had been doing it at home all wrong.

Cheese friends are great friends to have. They have a great sense of humor (they have to, to help them navigate all the "cutting the _____" jokes), and an exquisite level of understanding if you come to a party smelling like Roquefort because you'll been plating blues at work all night. Plus, they occasionally send you cheese in the mail, which is infinitely better than receiving postcards from Hawaii.